Caby and I have been meaning to hit up a couple barcades around the south of the UK since last trip, but we definitely got our money's worth with three this time (and then a much classier exhibition on retrogaming at a University the last day of the trip, though they both amount to playing a bunch of old games at the end of the day).
This first batch was taken in London at two, Elephant and Castle's Four Quarters and Soho's NQ64. I found Four Quarters pretty damn fun, and the Soho NQ64 was okay, a bit loud and the machines weren't in the best shape, but still glad to have visited. (If you want a more in-depth and better structured recollection of these two, do check out "London, Through the Eyes of the PowerShot A20" on the group blog. This is just a gallery of my best photos.)
What was fun with all our barcade outings was handing the camera over to whoever I was with and then finding what they took photos of when I got it back. The people I was with are pretty polite, so it's not like I ever got back a photo of someone's ass, thankfully. But hey, everyone likes playing with cameras! I really should do that more next trip. Most of this time, it was Caby of course, and mostly because I had my hands full playing Pac-Man.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The rest of these were taken at the NQ64 in Cardiff, which was a lot more fun. It being a little quieter and us not being fatigued and in pain from London certainly helped. The music selection in NQ64 is always interesting, a lot of throwback rap, basically. I don't remember the last time I heard Akon's "Smack That" before that evening, and the one in Soho blasted "Move Bitch" by Ludacris at frankly staggering volume.
Trys came with and got much further through The Simpsons arcade game than Caby or I, which was amusing. He also took some shots along with Caby, so if either of your photos are in here, thanks guys! Keep an eye out for some of the table doodles as well—if you don't know, NQ64 lets you doodle on the lights, tables, walls, toilet stalls, so Caby doodled a weed lesbian Penny doing her best Trys' teacher impression and a little throwback Red she was inspired to draw after seeing some suspiciously familiar scribbles nearby.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In all, we walked out having had a great time, still buzzed, my hand aching from mashing the fire button on the Galaga machine, and we immediately retired to Jollibee to celebrate. Caby noted that not once in a million years as a teenager would she have foreseen going to a bar with friends after dark and then grabbing fast food afterwards. Me neither, really. I'd never ordered anything from a bar before this. That's growth right there.